In 25 words or less, jot down your life's purpose. Bob Buford, author of Half-Time: Changing Your Game Plan From Success to Significance (Zondervan, 1994), suggests starting with some basic questions: What is your passion? What have you achieved? How are you wired? What are the "shoulds" that have trailed you through the first half of your life? [Source: "25 Ways to Reinvent Yourself" originally published in Modern Maturity January - February 2000, transcribed by Greg Olszewski.]
This post caused me to go read my own business mission statement, which I wrote over ten years ago and have never changed. I did pretty well, I think, creating in 31 words something that would be meaningful a decade later. I still like it. It still fits.
ReplyDeleteA personal mission statement seems at once more daunting and simpler. My entire life's purpose couldn't possibly be boiled down to a few sentences, could it? Then again, what do I want from life? (Besides an Indian guru, to show me the inner light? Oops-- apologies to The Tubes.)
I suppose it's easy enough to say "I want to be happy." But we are talking purpose here. I don't think the purpose of my life is to be happy. As someone once told me, and it resonated, the purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to be useful. To have it make some difference that I lived at all.
So here's my stab at a personal mission:
"To use my skills and knowledge, with honesty and compassion, to improve others' well-being; to reduce the sum total of the world's suffering."
At 24 words, I'll be happy if I can look back and say I did this. I think I'm on my way.
Love your Mission Statement, Deb. And I appreciate your pointing out the difference between what we 'want' from life and what our 'purpose' should be. Two different things. I'll have to ponder my own Mission Statement now. It includes helping others reach their goals in an entertaining manner by generating energy AND brainstorming ideas together. (Whew, that took me a few minutes.) :)
ReplyDelete